The Arts in NYC

1

A Pleasant Surprise

When I first saw "The Arts in NYC" on my schedule, I couldn't help but think of it as a potentially useless course. I thought that this would be a major distraction in my academic endevours, and even considered dropping the course.

So glad I didn't!

There were certain events throughout the semester that were particularly interesting. One of such noteworthy occurences took place at the Comedy Club. My favorite comedian was James Smith. I enjoyed, in particular, his "economic mockery." He ridiculed the decisions of the government to bail the banks out, like Citigroup. I guess one of the reasons I enjoyed this is due to my personal resentment against the government. I strongly agree with James Smith because we aren't responsible for the bank's problems, so why should the government use our precious tax dollars to bail out banks? Couldn't they use such worthy greenbacks to help us out instead? In addition to his outstanding performance, I also enjoyed Ray Ellin's style. He seemed to do a great job of naturally incorporating the audience, instead of simply demonstrating memorization of common jokes. For instance, we observed how he addressed the group that moved to Manhattan from Connecticut as the "relocators." Although he admits that some jokes are repeated in his daily performances, it is still great to see that a comedian attempts to use his or her natural voice in order to amuse the audience, rather than solely rely on memorization.

I would also agree that the opera was another great form of art that I observed. I particularly enjoyed this over the dance pieces because of its translations. The translations allowed me, as a viewer, to react with the character's potential agony, especially when the sick lady struggles to survive. I also enjoyed one scene that was extremely colorful because it properly illustrates the characters' ephermal happiness.

This course was so effective, not only because it exposed me to several art forms, which I probably would not have known about otherwise, but also helped me improve my writing. Because Professor Judell gave essay topics with relatively few parameters, I was able to share my opinions in a well coordinated, cohesive and concise manner. My focus, therefore, improved dramatically from that of previous courses. I really feel that I have made significant progress in my writing just due to the practice obtained from Professor Judell's essay topics.

This course is clearly something that has helped me tremendously, and definitely not something I would forget!

-Nihir S.